How to make a hobby horse:
materials :
A stick or dowel of decent strength and about 1/2 inch in diameter.
Fabric
thread
yarn of good strength
buttons for an older child or safety eyes for a younger one. You can also use fabric paint or a sharpie marker for a young child.
Glue - Tacky or stronger
Cut a 'sock head' shape, and also cut reversed - 2 pieces. Give the 'sock head' a good long neck - you will need this for the glue and yarn ties to hold it on.
Sew inside-out placing yarn into seams to form hairlines. To form the hair wrap the yarn around your hand or a short span between two dresser knobs over and over until it is a thick wad. Spread it out and place it centerline along the seam so half of the loops are inside and half of them are outside. Sew them into the seam and we will trim the outside loops later.
If making unicorn shape, sew and stuff a triangle of yellow or orange fabric for the horn and place that in the seam, otherwise just put yarn all the way up and down from forelock to about 4 inches above the neck bottom. If you are using safety eyes, mark and place them now.
Turn right-side out and stuff head with stuffing to within 4 inches of the bottom.
As you are stuffing it make sure to keep a hole in the center bottom of the stuffing - Coat the dowel end with glue and place it up into the hole. Keep stuffing and adding some glue right around the dowel until you are four inches from the bottom of the sock head. Set head carefully aside to allow some of that glue to set.
Take this time to cut and sew a pair of oblong ears. It is your choice how you attach them to the head. I sewed the horn down a little more onto the head once it was stuffed and then attached ears to either side of it folding the corners of the sewn ear pieces together to make 'folded' ears. I inserted a piece of plastic canvas into each ear to give it stability, but you can stuff them or put cardboard in them - this is not a washable toy. If you are using buttons, mark and sew them on now.
Get a needle and thread and sew a -.-.-.-.- pattern around the end of the stuffed area of the sock head and pull the thread like a drawstring to pull the head tightly to the bottom. Add more glue along the dowel between this sewing and the bottom of the sock head. Fold the bottom edge of the sock head under and start to wrap yarn around the glued fabric while the glue is still wet. Criss-cross and tie the yarn around each side each time as you wrap up and down, forming a full wrap from below the sock head fabric up as close to the bottom of the stitching as possible. Pull the yarn very tight as you do this and wipe away excess glue. Let dry for several hours to make sure the glue has set.
Make sure the head is well seated with a _slight_ tug, and then set aside to dry.
Expect this toy to get dirty, and don't expect to put it through the washing machine!
